1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle for securing extra distance to empty (DTE) of the vehicle by controlling the use of a load that is consuming battery power or by changing driving mode, when a recharging station not detected within DTE of the vehicle at a current battery charge level.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Recent issues of global warming from environmental destruction and oil prices have increased the developments of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are being developed to alleviate the pollution problem, such as noise and exhaust gas from vehicles and to efficiently use surplus power in terms of energy saving. The electric vehicle charges the battery with electricity, and runs on the battery by driving the motor with the charged electricity. Important factors for operating the electric vehicle including monitoring the battery state, such as current temperature and state of charge (SOC) and managing the battery state to remain greater than a certain level. In particular, and the battery SOC may be monitored in real time to inform the driver of distance to empty (DTE) based on a remaining battery charge level.
In terms of DTE based on a remaining battery charge level, like internal combustion vehicles that estimate DTE based on a current gasoline fuel level and inform the driver of the DTE, the electric vehicles also estimate DTE based on a current battery energy state and indicate the DTE on a cluster within the vehicle or somewhere similar. The electric vehicle runs on a charged battery instead of fuel for gasoline vehicles, but currently, the battery charge performance remains insufficient for the electric vehicle to travel a substantially long distance, and thus the electric vehicle requires regular charging at recharging stations.
Due to the limited charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), plug in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), etc., which are available today, recharging stations are not sufficiently prevalent yet. An electric vehicle that requires recharging may become discharged when a recharging station is unavailable within the DTE.
Accordingly, the cluster of the electric vehicle provides a warning of recharging through battery SOC indication. Furthermore, a system has been proposed to use a geographic information system to provide the driver with information regarding a recharging station located within a shortest range from the current location of the vehicle and provides the most suitable service for the vehicle, when a voltage level of the battery recognized by the electric vehicle falls below a certain level, thereby providing the driver a warning for charging the electric vehicle.